Freeranger Eggs is a free range egg farm at Grantville in the southern Australian state of Victoria. Our hens are never locked up, they are fed a natural diet of grains with no additives - and they are not beak-trimmed.
The only reason for removing the top part or even the tip of the beak is that when hens are confined in small spaces and in large numbers they often become aggressive and attack each other. On a true free range farm with plenty of space, all birds have full beaks.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

There's an interesting article in the latest issue of the Asia-Pacific Journal of Chemical Engineering explaining the 'development
of eggshell derived catalyst for transesterification of used cooking
oil for biodiesel production'.

One major drawback that prevents commercialization of biodiesel is
the high cost of vegetable oil feedstock. In this work, used cooking
oil, which is far cheaper than fresh vegetable oil, is used
as an alternative raw material. Prior to transesterification
reaction, esterification was conducted and catalyzed homogeneously to
eliminate free fatty acid. Heterogeneous catalyst derived from cheap
and easily obtained egg-shell (industrial waste) was used for
transesterification reaction. A 100% ester yield was obtained at the
optimized reaction conditions.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Research into Newcastle Disease, which is a particularly nasty disease for chickens is being undertaken through a project of the Poultry Co-operative Research Centre.

The severity of the clinical signs of ND is influenced by the strain of
virus and the age, condition and species of the bird. Clinical signs
in poultry range from a mild, almost inapparent respiratory disease
to a very severe depression, drop in egg production, increased
respiration, profuse diarrhoea followed by collapse, or long-term
nervous signs (such as twisted necks) if the birds survive. Death
rate can be up to 100 per cent in severe (virulent) forms of the
disease. The incubation period is usually 5 – 6 days, but can vary
from 2 – 15 days.

Strains of ND virus that cause no disease, known as avirulent, low
virulence or lentigenic strains, are common in Australian poultry
flocks.

Friday, February 08, 2013

We had our food safety inspection by
our local council (Bass Coast Shire) Health Officer yesterday and all
was well. Our grading room, cool room, delivery and egg handling
procedures were all demonstrably OK.

But I couldn't help myself. I referred
to the recent post I put up here and how outraged I felt that in
Victoria ALL egg sellers are
not legally required to record the temperatures at which their eggs
are stored.

We do
it as a matter of course – we have a detailed Food Safety Programme
which is a key part of our operation. Many farms in Victoria don't
bother with records which show their temperature control procedures
or their egg cleaning methods (and if eggs are dirty there is a farm
management problem).

I
received an email from Heather
Haines, Manager, Evidence Program of FoodSafety Victoria who said“The
new Primary Production and Processing standard does not, in fact,
specify that eggs should be transported and stored at cool
temperaturesAlthough
temperature control is not specified in the standard, cool transport
and storage of eggs (along with the control of humidity) are
recommended in several industry codes of practice and state
government, for the reasons you discuss".

I
was gobsmacked!
It seems that all those clowns who are transporting eggs for many
hours or days in unrefrigerated vans are not breaking any laws. As
temperature control “is not specified” they can ignore it – and
they do. There are heaps of examples of eggs being transported at
uncontrolled temperatures for many hours to markets in Melbourne and
other places. It maybe be OK in cool conditions – but I am
disgusted that the Victorian Government allows it to happen when
temperatures higher than specified levels encourage the growth of bacteria and pathogens. Why wait for the problem to kill people!!

Wednesday, February 06, 2013

Production is going well at present, with a laying rate running at just over 80% with our main flocks. The latest batch of pullets haven't started yet but the flock which is 23 weeks old is at about 60% production.

We are not looking forward to the next bout of hot weather although we have plenty of shade in the paddocks and heaps of ice in the freezer ready to put in the chooks' water.

Demand for eggs is still strong although (thankfully) the tourists have gone home now and we just have to cope with the standard bedlam which seems to rule our lives!

Here's some of our chooks with their Maremma, Ducati. As you can see from the sky, there aren't many clouds about so we are expecting unwelcome temperatures.

About Me

With a background in journalism and public relations in the UK, Africa and Australia, I've been farming for over 30 years. I'm an Environmental Auditor and have been an egg industry auditor as well as a former President of the Free Range Egg and Poultry Association of Australia and the Free Range Farmers Association of Victoria.
Our farm has been designed for sustainable land management and we have a long involvement with Landcare. I have carried out regional flora and fauna surveys and have also run courses and lectured on community development, land management and run workshops on sustainability and setting up free range egg farms. .
The Freeranger Farm runs sheep, cattle and horses as well as laying hens - a genuine mixed farm. Everything on the farm is designed for minimal impact. As much as possible recycled materials are used, solar power helps to achieve our sustainability aims and the farm is not just carbon neutral - it is carbon positive.
Even our main shed, which includes the farm office, egg grading room, storage and maintenance facilities, was constructed mainly using recycled steel sections purchased at a farm clearing sale.